GOES Operations

Daily operations
of GOES are structured to satisfy the meteorological needs of the National
Weather Service, while complying with spacecraft state-of-health requirements
and operational constraints. The operational scenarios for GOES feature one of
three modes:

Full disk mode - consists of a full disk scan of the
earth followed by star looks and a blackbody calibration, repeated every half
hour;

Routine mode - a repeated 3-hour sequence, starting with a full
disk scan, followed by:

an extended northern hemisphere scan

a
continental U.S. (CONUS) scan, and

a southern hemisphere-south scan;

Rapid scan mode - a repeated 3-hour sequence, starting with a full disk scan,
followed by:

a northern hemisphere scan,

a CONUS scan,

a
small southern hemisphere-south scan,

a second CONUS scan,

star
looks and a blackbody calibration, and

five more CONUS scans;

The
routine mode of operation effectively results in the continental United States
products being produced approximately every fifteen minutes (see timing
diagram). The particular mode being used at any given time is driven meteorological
activity and determined by NOAA.

At present, NOAAPORT users
may determine the scanning scenario in use by keeping track of the products and
the order received.